USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 7
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it would be a very easy matter to pull it all down. The chymney that was formerly built in a very poor manner, now part of it is down, so that there is an open way to the roof which a man might easily break with his foot and hands."
After a short session on the Ioth, the court adjourned till the next court in turn. In pursuance of the Act of 1738, the court then met on the second Monday in each month.
The business of the county court, as indicated by the order books, was heavy and diversified. The first session of court was held, as stated, in December, 1745, and by the February term following there was a large docket of causes for trial. Single justices had jurisdiction of causes involving less than twenty-five shillings. In all other causes at law and in equity, civil and criminal, (not involving loss of life or member), the court had jurisdiction, there being, however, a right of appeal to the general court, which was then composed of the Gover- nor and his council. Attendance at the county court every month be- came burdensome to the people, and in October, 1748, an act of as- sembly was passed, establishing quarterly courts for the trial of causes. Four or more justices were required to constitute a court.
According to the order book of the County Court, the second term of the Court began on February 11, 1745. This apparent error is thus explained : Until 1752, the English year began on the 25th of March, and consequently January, February, and March, (up to the 25th), belonged to the same year as the preceding December. The year 1745 continued till March 25th, and then the year 1746, began .*
We may mention that the first clerk of the county court, John Madison, was the father of the Rey. Dr. James Madison, for some time bishop of the Episcopal church in Virginia. John Madison, the clerk; Gabriel Jones, the lawyer; and Thomas Lewis, the surveyor, whose wives were sisters, (Misses Strother, from Stafford county), lived in the same neighborhood, near Port Republic.
Among the first justices of the peace we find John and Andrew Pickens. One of these was the father of the distinguished General An- drew Pickens, of South Carolina. General Henry Lee states in his "Memoirs of the War" (page 594), that General Pickens was born in Paxton township, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1739. His parents were from Ireland. When he was a child his father removed to Au- gusta county, Virginia, and iu 1752 to the Waxhaw settlement, in
* France and Scotland adopted the first of January as the beginning of the year much earlier than England, and, therefore, in the latter country, before the change was sanctioned by act of Parliament, dates falling between January 1st and March 25th, were commonly expressed thus : February 10, 1745-'6, the last figure indicating the year according to the present reckoning.
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South Carolina. He was actively engaged in the Indian wars and the Revolution. He was conspicuous for his valor at the Cowpens, Haw River, Augusta (Georgia), and Eutaw ; and Lee de- clares that he contributed in an equal degree with Sumter and Marion to the liberation of the Southern States. After the war he served in the Legislature of South Carolina and the United States Congress. "This great and good military chieftain," as General Lee styles him, died August 11, 1817, at his seat in Pendleton District, South Carolina, which had been the scene of one of his earliest Indian bat- tles. "He was," says Lee, "a sincere believer in the Christian relig- ion, and a devout observer of the Presbyterian form of worship."
The first will presented in the County Court of Augusta, was that of Robert Wilson. It was executed November 3, 1745, and was proved and admitted to record February 11, 1746.
The first deed recorded, dated December 9, 1745, was from An- drew Pickens to William McPheeters, and conveyed twelve and one- half acres of land in consideration of five shillings. Deed Books 1, 2 and 3, are occupied almost exclusively by the conveyances of William Beverley to various persons.
Beverley made many deeds previous to 1745, which were recorded in Orange; and from 1745 to 1755, no less than one hundred and sixty-six of his deeds were recorded in Augusta. He never conveyed the two acres promised to the justices in 1745; but in 1749, he dona- ted much more land to the county, as we shall see.
From the papers in an early suit we, have ascertained the prices in the county of several articles in the year 1745. Money was then, and for a long time afterward, counted in pounds, shillings, and pence, one pound, Virginia currency, being $3.3373 .* We state the prices here
* Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, Query XXI, says : "How it has happened that in this as well as other American States the nominal value of coin was made to differ from what it was in the country we had left, and to differ among ourselves, too, I am not able to say with certainty." He says, however, the first symptom of the depreciation of Virginia paper money "was that of silver dollars selling at six shillings, which had before been worth but five shillings and ninepence." The trouble about the currency arose as early as 1631. In 1645 the House of Burgesses established "the Spanish piece of eight" ($1), at six shillings, as the standard of their currency. In 1680 they sent an address to the King, in consequence of which, by proclamation, in 1683, he fixed the value of "pieces of eight" at six shillings. Other regulations were made in 1710, 1714, 1727 and 1762.
Thus the Spanish dollar, the standard of Virginia currency, being made to consist of six shillings, each shilling, the one-sixth of a dollar, being 1633 cents ; and twenty shillings, here as in England, making one pound, the Vir- ginia pound got to be $3.331/3.
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in the present currency. The price of sugar was 1633 cents per pound, two nutmegs 22 cents, half a pound of powder 3373 cents, one and a half pounds of lead 1972 cents, and one ounce of indigo 25 cents.
The rates of ordinaries fixed by the court, March 10, 1746, were as follows : For a hot diet, 1212 cents ; a cold ditto, 81/3 cents ; lodg- ing, with clean sheets, 416 cents ; stabling and fodder at night, 87/3 cents ; rum, the gallon, $1.50; whiskey, the gallon, $1 ; claret, the quart, 831/3 cents.
The ordinary proceedings of the County Court, as recorded in the order books, often illustrate the history of the times, and we shall make frequent quotations.
As soon as the court was established, taverns were needed at the county seat. Therefore we find that on February 12, 1746, license to keep ordinaries at the court-honse was granted to Robert McClanahan and John Hutchinson. And on the same day it was "ordered that any attorney interrupting another at the bar, or speaking when he is not employed, forfeit five shillings."
On February 19, 1746, a court was held to receive proof of "public claims," and the losses of several persons by the Indians were proved and ordered to be certified to the general assembly for allowance.
While the white settlers and Indians who often passed through the country were supposed to be at peace, and the more prudent set- tlers sought by every means to conciliate the savages, instances of rob- bery and massacre by Indians were not infrequent, as is shown by the records of the County Court and otherwise. Tradition tells of an Indian raid upon a homestead near Buffalo Gap, but at what date is not stated. The ancestor of the Bell family of that neighborhood lived some two miles from the gap, and the females and children who were at home, learned that a party of Indians were in the vicinity. Feeling insecure, they abandoned their house and sought safety else- where. The Indians would have passed the dwelling withont discov- ering it, but were attracted to the place by the cackling of a flock of geese. They plundered the house, setting it on fire, by design or ac- cident, and went off. From that day to the present no member or de- scendant of that family of Bells has kept geese.
At the April term, 1746, of the County Court, John Nicholas having declined to act as prosecuting attorney, the court recommended Gabriel Jones "as a fit person to transact his majesty's affairs in this county." Mr. Jones was accordingly appointed, and duly qualified at the next court.
At May term, 1746, John Preston proved his importation from Ireland, with his wife, Elizabeth, William, his son, and Lettice and
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Ann, his daughters, at his own charge, "in order to partake of his majesty's bounty for taking up land."
John Preston came to America with his brother-in-law, James Patton, a brother of Mrs. Preston. It is believed that he lived on the farm a mile N. E. of Staunton, recently known as the Mosby-Taylor farm, and now, (1892), owned by M. E. Miller.
Mrs. Lititia Floyd, daughter of Col. William Preston, grand- daughter of Jolin Preston, and wife of the first Governor Floyd, in 1843 wrote an account of the Preston family, from which we take most of the following statements :
Colonel James Patton had four sisters, two of whom married "men of quality" in the old country. The youngest sister, Elizabeth, while crossing the river Shannon in a boat, liad as a fellow-passenger a young man of striking appearance, who proved to be a ship carpenter named John Preston. This casual interview led to acquaintance and a runaway marriage. The young lady thus placed herself "out of the pale of her family." Her brother, James Patton, having afterwards retired from the sea and settled in America, induced Mr. and Mrs. Preston to emigrate also. Mrs. Floyd puts the date of their arrival in the Valley at 1735, and says Jolin Preston died seven years afterwards at "Gibson's old place, eight miles below Staunton." But it appears from the records of Augusta County Court that his death occurred in 1747, and if he lived only seven years after coming, he must have arrived in 1740 with Alexander Breckinridge and many others, as is generally supposed to have been the fact. While living in Augusta, remote from the seaboard, John Preston employed himself as a cabinet- maker, constructing household furniture for himself and neighbors.
William, only son of John Preston, was born in the town of New- ton, Ireland, November 25, 1729. He received most of his education in America, from the Rev. John Craig. Mrs. Patton was a haughty woman, says Mrs. Floyd, and kept aloof from the Prestons. A silly prediction of an Irish woman that William Preston would get his uncle's fortune, so impressed her with dread of a marriage between the nepliew and one of her daughters, that she allowed no intercourse between the young people. She died soon after the marriage of her daughters,-one to a kinsman of hers named Thompson, and the other to John Buchanan. Colonel Patton then induced his widowed sister to remove to Spring Farm, in the vicinity of Staunton, and went to live with her.
John Preston and other Presbyterian people of Staunton and vicinity of his day, worshiped at Tinkling Spring, and his body was interred at that place. His eldest daughter married Robert Breckin-
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ridge, the ancestor of several distinguished men. The second daugh- ter married the Rev. John Brown, pastor of New Providence church, and from them descended John Brown, of Kentucky, and James Brown, of Louisiana, both of them United States Senators, and the latter min- ister to France. William Preston was the father of a numerous family, male and female, and many of his descendants have been eminent in various walks of life. John Preston, the ancestor, appears to have been a quiet man, and without the bustling energy which character- ized other pioneer settlers ; but the traits which he and "his wife Elizabeth," transmitted to their posterity is a noble testimony that the pair possessed more than common merit. He died in 1747, leaving a very small estate, as far as appears. His wife qualified as adminis- tratrix, February 6, 1747, and executed a bond, with John Maxwell and Robert McClanahan as her securities, in the penalty of £100, in- dicating a personal estate of only £50.
On the day that John Preston "proved his importation," the court ordered that "Edward Boyle, for damning the court and swearing four oaths in their presence, be put in the stocks for two hours, and be fined twelve shillings," ($2).
At November term, 1746, the court made an allowance to provide small beer, [for the Justices, it is presumed], and for stabling the horses of justices, attorneys and officers. Persons were licensed to sell liquor in booths and stalls on the court-house lot ; and at March term, 1750, commissioners were appointed to inspect the beer sold at every court, "and if it appear that the same is not at least one month old and well hop'd then they presume not to ask more than one penny a quart."
Till the year 1746, no vestrymen had been elected, as provided in the act of 1738. In that year, however, an election was held, and twelve persons were chosen to constitute the vestry of the parish, viz : James Patton, (Col.) Jolin Buchanan, Jolin Madison, Patrick Hays, John Christian, (Mr.) Jolin Buchanan, Robert Alexander, Thomas Gorden, James Lockhart, John Archer, John Matthews, and John Smith.
From the first settlement of Virginia the Church of England had been established in the colony. The inhabited parts were laid off into parislies, in each of which was a minister, who had a fixed salary in tobacco, together with a farm (called glebe) and a parsonage. There was a general assessment on all the inhabitants to meet the expenses.
When a new parish was established, the vestrymen were elected by the qualified voters, but vacancies occurring afterwards were filled by the board. Two members were annually chosen to act as church- wardens, and these were more particularly charged with all matters
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pertaining to religion and public morals. The minister, or rector, was ex officio president of the board.
Vestrymen were not merely ecclesiastical officers, but some of the duties now performed by supervisors were imposed upon them by law. They had the care of the poor, and attended to the important duty, as it was then, of "processioning lands." At a time when the bounda- ries of contiguous tracts of land were ill defined, to prevent or settle disputes, commissioners were appointed by the vestry to ascertain and fix the lines. This custom had fallen into disuse, and every law on the subject had disappeared from the statute books, till the destruction of many county records during the late war, led to an act of Assembly, in 1865-'6, reviving the practice. In England the vestry has also charge of all highways in the parish ; but in Virginia, during colonial times, little or no concern was taken about public roads.
The vestry held meetings statedly, at least once a year, to count up and provide for the expenses of the parish. They laid the parish levy ; and it is curious at this day to find that here, as well as else- where in the colony, glebe farins were bought, churches and parson- ages built, ministers, readers and sextons paid, and even the sacra- mental wine provided, out of the public treasury.
All members of the vestry were required by law to take the various oaths imposed upon public officers generally, and, in addition, to subscribe a declaration "to be coniformable to the doctrine and dis- cipline of the Church of England." It is quite certain that most of the vestrymen of Augusta parish in 1746, were Dissenters from the Established Church. How they could, with a clear conscience, sub- scribe the declaration referred to is a question. They probably pleaded the necessity of the case. Without vestrymen and a rector the local government could not be completed, the poor could not be cared for, lands could not be "processioned," and especially none of the young people in the county could get married without much expense and in- convenience. The Scotcli-Irish vestrymen of Augusta parish, with James Patton at their head, very likely agreed "to be comforinable," with the understanding that it was only for the time being and in respect to the particular public duties they undertook to discharge. They did not relax their interest in the dissenting congregations to which they belonged, and, as far as known, they did not incur censure nor lose respect by their conformity as vestrymen. Some Dissenters of the Covenanter stock no doubt compared the Presbyterian vestry- men and church-wardens to Naaman, the Syrian, bowing himself in the house of Rimmon, because the King leaned upon his hand. As will be seen hereafter, the practice of subscribing the declaration of
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conformity fell into partial disuse, and some persons elected vestrymen refused to subscribe when required to do so, and retired from the board.
The vestry of Augusta parish met for the first time in the court- house, April 6, 1747. They elected John Madison, clerk, and Robert Alexander and James Lockhart, church-wardens. The Rev. John Hindman appeared with letters from the Governor, etc., recommend- ing him for employment as "rector of the parish." The vestry, how- ever, were not in a hurry, and proceeded to drive a bargain with Mr. Hindman. They agreed to accept him, provided he would not insist upon the purchase of glebe lands for two years, and would hold his services in the meanwhile in the court-house, "and in people's houses of the same persuasion." Moreover, he was not to complain to the Governor in regard to the tardiness of liis vestrymen. A glebe farm, however, was purchased, and a church building was erected in Staun- ton in the course of time. The farm was at the foot of North Moun- tain, about five miles south of Swoope's depot, and is now owned by the Thompson family. No church was ever built there, but farm buildings were erected, and an acre or more of land was laid off for a public burying ground. In common with other glebe lands, the farm was disposed of as directed by law, after the disestablishment of the Church of England in the State. The church in Staunton was built on land given by Beverley, April 3, 1750. It was begun in 1760, and finished in 1763.
Webster's History of the Presbyterian church in the United States, states that a Presbyterian preacher named Hyndman was sent from the North to Virginia as an Evangelist, but died soon after being called to Rockfish and Mountain Plain. He is no doubt the same person as the first rector of Augusta Parish, of whom Mr. Craig speaks in his diary as a "turn coat." If so, Episcopal ordination would seem to have been dispensed with in his case. There was no Episcopal bishop in Virginia.
Mr. Hindman's salary, payable in money, was £50 a year. Com- missary Dawson, in a letter of July 11, 1749, to the Bishop of London, states that the parish was then vacant because of the death of Mr. Hindman. At a meeting of the vestry, on the day last named, Mr. Robert Clowseme, recommended by "Peter Hedgman, gentleman," sought the vacant place, but he was rejected, the vestry "not being acquainted with him," and resolving to receive no minister "without a trial first had." For more than two years the parishi was vacant, and then in 1752, the Rev. John Jones was inducted on the recommendation of Governor Dinwiddie.
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But we have anticipated the course of events. It is probable that on the day, in 1746, that vestrymen were elected, delegates, or "bur- gesses," to represent Augusta county in the colonial assembly were also elected. We find no trace of such election, however, in our local archives or elsewhere. The county was duly represented in the "House of Burgesses," nevertheless, and from several acts found in Hening's Statutes at Large, it appears that the county was required to pay the "wages" of her representatives. The name and fame of one of our earliest burgesses have been perpetuated by a stone erected in the glebe burying ground. We give a literal copy of the inscription :
HERE LY,S THE INTER, D BODY OF COLL, JOHN WILL- SON WHO DEPARTED THIS LIF. IN THE - YARE - OF OUR LORD 1773 IN THE 72- Y -OF HIS EAG HAVING SERVD HIS COUNTY - 27 - YA - REPRESE-NTETIVE - IN - THE HON- OURABLE - HOUS - OF BURJESIS. IN VIRGINIA &C
Colonel Willson is not to be held responsible for the illiteracy and mistakes of the stone-cutter. We presume there is no mistake as to the date of his death, and the statement that he served twenty-seven years as a member of the House of Burgesses. He must, therefore, have been elected in 1746, and have served, upon repeated elections, continuously till his death.
Robert Cunningham was Col. Willson's colleague at the first elec- tion, as we learn incidentally. He was sued by William Beverley in an action of ejectment. and at a session of the County Court, on August 23, 1746, pleaded his privilege as a Burgess, and the suit was dis- missed.
R. A. Brock, Esq., Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, has furnished to us the following partial list of delegates from Augusta in the House of Burgesses :
1751-John Willson and John Madison. 1752-John Willson and John Madison. 1757-John Willson and Gabriel Jones. 1758-John Willson and Gabriel Jones. 1759-Jolin Willson and Israel Christian. 1761-John Willson and Israel Christian. 1768-John Willson and William Preston. 1769-John Willson and William Preston. 1771-John Willson and Gabriel Jones. 1773-John Willson and Samuel McDowell. 1776-George Mathews and Samuel McDowell.
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In the interval, from 1761 to 1768, and probably at other times, Thomas Lewis served as one of the delegates from Augusta. James Patton also represented the county, for we find that at November term of the County Court, 1755, an allowauce was made to his executor for "burgess wages."
From a copy of Purdie's Almanac for 1766, we learn that the Burgesses from Augusta in that year were John Willson and William Preston.
We again revert to an earlier period in the history of the county. On May 21, 1747, George Wythe appeared before the county court and took the oaths required of attorneys. At the same time the grand jury presented five persons as swearers and two for Sabbath breaking.
On the 22d of May, 1747, the Rev. Samuel Black, a dissenting minister, appeared before the court and took the prescribed oaths. We have little further information in regard to Mr. Black. He was a Pres- byterian and lived in Pennsylvania. In 1758, he was a member of Donegal Presbytery.
The number of tithables in the county in 1747, was 1, 670, and the tax per head, as levied by the vestry, six shillings.
The following extract from the records of the court, of date May 20, 1748, is a part of the history of the times, and possesses some special interest : "On the motion of Matthew Lyle, yts ordered to be certified that they have built a Presbyterian meeting-house at a place known by the name of Timber Ridge, another at New Providence, * and another at a place known by the name of Falling Spring." All these places are in the present county of Rockbridge, then part of Augusta. The record shows, among other things, the rapid settlement of the country.
" West of the Blue Ridge," says Foote [First Series, page 309] "the inhabitants were generally Disseuters ; and, coming into the prov- ince such, there was always less difficulty in obtaining license for houses of worship than in those counties east of the Ridge, where no Dissenters, or but few, had settled, and those that appeared were con- verts from the Established Church." The early meeting-houses in Augusta, erected before the year 1745, were doubtless registered in Orange county.
Early in the century the American Presbyterian Church became divided into what were known as the "Old Side" and the "New Side."
* There was a house of worship in Pennsylvania, near Norristown, called Providence. "From this many families emigrated to New Virginia, settled to- gether, and built a meeting-house, which they called New Providence."-[Life of Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, page 6.]
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There was no question in regard to doctrine, but only as to the proper methods of promoting religion. The New Side Presbyterians, some- times called "New Lights," were admirers and followers of George Whitefield, who traversed the country, and by his zeal and eloquence caused an extraordinary religious excitement. The Old Side party was composed of the more conservative and less aggressive element of the church, who feared excitement, and perhaps were not specially zealous. The various Presbyterians adhering to the Old Side were associated as the Synod of Philadelphia, and those of the New Side as the Synod of New York. There was no Presbytery in Virginia till the year 1755, when Hanover Presbytery was formed by authority of the Synod of New York, and was composed of New Side ministers, and churches. This Presbytery consisted at first of only six ministers, including the celebrated Samuel Davies, of Hanover county ; Rev. John Brown, of New Providence; and Rev. Alexander Craighead, of Windy Cove. The Rev. John Craig, of Augusta and Tinkling Spring, was not a member of it till the breach was healed, in 1758, and the two parties came together again. During the alienation most, if not all, the Pres- byterian churches in the present county of Augusta adhered to the Old Side, and those in the region now composing Rockbridge county, (New Providence, Timber Ridge, Falling Spring, Hall's meeting-house, afterwards Monmouth, or Lexington), to the New Side. While the strife lasted much bitterness of feeling was exhibited, and the cause of the Dissenters, and of religion itself, was no doubt greatly injured thereby. Missionaries were sent to Virginia by both the Northern Synods. A minister named Robinson, sent out by the Synod of New York, was preaching in the Valley, when one of the inhabitants of Augusta, going into the lower country for salt and iron, met some of the attendants upon Morris' meetings in Hanover, and recommended Mr. Robinson to them. He was invited to visit them, which he did, and his visit led to the settlement of Samuel Davies in Virginia.
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